S', 


49  to 

«  historical  Sketch  sl**  $ 
<9  Christian  Roman's  j> 
«  Board  of  Missions  | 


V? 

49 

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49 

49 

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49 

49 

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4$ 

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49 

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Compiled,  by 

Mias  Glmira  J,  Dickinson 


152  Cast  Market  Street 
XndianapoliSt  Xnd. 

Issued  December,  1897 
Revised  and  Reissued  September,  1900 


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ANNUAL  CONVENTIONS  AND  RE¬ 
CEIPTS. 


1874  Cincinnati:  Collections  during  First 


Convention 

$430  00 

1875 

Louisville:  Receipts  for  yr.  end’gSept.30  770  35 

1876 

Indianapolis, 

CC 

cc 

cc 

1,749  00 

1877 

St.  Louis, 

<1 

cc 

cc 

2,033  77 

1878 

Cincinnati, 

cc 

(  c 

cc 

2,919  42 

1879 

Bloomington, 

cc 

cc 

c  c 

3,551  24 

1880 

Louisville, 

cc 

cc 

cc 

5,050  96 

1881 

Indianapolis, 

cc 

c  c 

cc 

7,483  50 

1882 

Lexington, 

cc 

cc 

cc 

9,319  60 

1883 

Cincinnati, 

cc 

cc 

cc 

10,364  55 

1884 

St.  Louis, 

cc 

cc 

cc 

14,418  55 

1885 

Cleveland, 

cc 

cc 

16,620  09 

1886 

Kansas  City, 

c  c 

c  c 

c  y 

18,283  63 

1887 

Indianapolis, 

cc 

c  c 

cc 

26,226  01 

1888 

Springfield, 

cc 

cc 

c  c 

27,665  26 

1889 

Louisville, 

cc 

c  c 

cc 

36,279  17 

1890 

Des  Moines, 

c  c 

cc 

42,116  81 

1891 

Allegheny, 

cc 

cc 

cc 

40,973  87 

1892 

Nashville, 

cc 

cc 

c  c 

48,222  68 

1893 

Chicago, 

cc 

cc 

cc 

51,232  06 

1894 

Richmond, 

cc 

c  c 

cc 

59,277  04 

1895 

Dallas, 

cc 

cc 

cc 

58,611  83 

1896 

Springfield, 

cc 

cc 

cc 

57,622  20 

1897 

Indianapolis, 

cc 

cc 

cc 

62,600  81 

1898 

Chattanooga, 

cc 

cc 

cc 

68,185  87 

1899 

Cincinnati, 

cc 

c  c 

cc 

101,343  54 

Total . 

.$773,351  81 

THE  CHRISTIAN  WOMAN’S  BOARD 
OF  MISSIONS. 


ANTECEDENTS. 

Woman’s  missionary  work,  as  a  distinctive 
agency,  is  a  product  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
The  first  organization  for  this  purpose,  in  this 
country,  of  which  we  have  any  account,  is  the 
“Female  Missionary  Society,”  of  the  M.  E. 
Church  in  New  York,  which  was  organized  in 
1819,  but  ceased  to  exist  in  1861.  In  1834 
women  of  various  churches  in  New  York,  learn¬ 
ing  of  the  deplorable  condition  of  their  heathen 
sisters,  formed  a  Society  to  work  in  their  be¬ 
half,  but  this  was  soon  “  abandoned  at  the 
urgent  request  of  the  church  Boards.”  In 
1860,  Mrs.  Fannie  B.  Mason,  a  missionary  from 
Burmah,  came  to  New  York  with  the  sad  story 
of  the  wants  and  woes  of  heathen  women.  The 
result  was  the  formation  of  the  “Woman’s 
Union  Missionary  Society,”  in  1861,  which  is 
still  working  vigorously.  The  various  subse¬ 
quent  denominational  Woman’s  Missionary  So¬ 
cieties  in  the  United  States  are  outgrowths 
from  this. 

ORIGIN. 

As  early  as  October,  1869,  Elder  Thomas 
Munnell  had  urged  the  General  Christian  Mis- 


1 


sionary  Convention,  assembled  at  Louisville, 
Ky.,  to  take  steps  for  enlisting  the  Sisters  in 
systematic  missionary  work,  and  though  this 
was  not  done  then,  seeds  were  sown  beside  the 
waters,  and  some  of  them  grew  years  after. 

The  inaugurator  of  organized  mission  work 
among  the  women  of  the  Church  of  Christ  was 
Mrs.  Caroline  N.  Pearre.  Replying  to  ques¬ 
tions  concerning  this,  she  says  in  a  letter  writ¬ 
ten  Feb.  10,  1896:  “  On  the  10th  of  April,  1874, 
about  10  o’clock  in  the  morning,  at  the  close 
of  my  private  devotions,  the  thought  came  to 
me.  I  promptly  conferred  with  Brother  Mun- 
nell,  who  was  then  Corresponding  Secretary  of 
the  General  Christian  Missionary  Convention, 
to  know  if  he  thought  it  practicable.  He  re¬ 
sponded  at  once:  ‘  This  is  a  flame  of  the  Lord’s 
kindling,  and  no  man  can  extinguish  it.’  I 
then  began  to  write  letters  to  our  ladies,  and 
soon  received  favorable  answers  from  all  but 
one.  She  did  not  reply.” 

This  encouraged  Mrs.  Pearre  to  begin  the 
work  in  her  home  church  in  Iowa  City,  where 
she  organized  a  Society  about  the  middle  of 
May.  About  the  same  time,  a  letter  that  she 
had  written  concerning  it  to  Mrs.  J.  K.  Rogers 
was  sent  to  J.  H.  Garrison,  who  published  it 
in  his  paper,  The  Christian ,  with  an  edi¬ 
torial  fervently  commending  it  to  his  readers. 
In  June  Isaac  Errett  visited  Iowa  City,  talked 
the  matter  all  over  with  Mrs.  Pearre,  was  thor¬ 
oughly  interested,  and  then  and  there  wrote  a 
vigorous  leader  entitled,  “Help  Those  Women,” 
and  sent  it  off  for  the  next  issue  of  his  paper, 

2 


The  Christian  Standard.  In  this  he  pro¬ 
posed  that  the  Sisters  hold  a  convention  at  the 
same  time  with  the  General  Convention,  at 
Cincinnati,  in  the  following  October,  to  organ¬ 
ize  a  woman’s  Board.  Through  the  columns  of 
The  Standard  and  The  Christian  this  was 
kept  before  the  people  and  arranged  for.  Al¬ 
ready  there  were  devout  women  here  and 
there,  who,  in  silence,  were  yearning  for  some 
active,  responsible,  yet  womanly  work  for  the 
Master,  in  place  of  the  passive  church  life  they 
were  living.  The  words  of  these  faithful  men 
strengthened  and  encouraged  all  such.  In  fact, 
a  few  Sisters  at  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  under  the 
guidance  of  John  C.  Hay,  had,  on  the  28th  of 
February,  of  that  same  year,  banded  together 
for  local  missionary  work  under  the  leadership 
of  Mrs.  C.  E.  Gaston,  who  writes:  “This  was 
the  first  missionary  organization  among  our 
Sisters,”  Thus,  Iowa  women  became  the  van¬ 
guard  of  the  coming  army. 

ORGANIZATION. 

During  the  summer  of  1874,  a  number  of 
local  Societies  were  formed  to  be  auxiliary  to 
the  Board  that  was  to  be  organized  in  October. 
The  first  of  these,  so  far  as  we  have  record, 
was  at  Indianapolis,  in  July.  About  the  first 
of  August,  Societies  were  started  at  Blooming¬ 
ton  and  at  Eureka,  Ill.,  and  at  other  points 
later  on. 

About  seventy-five  Sisters  met  in  Cincinnati 
in  response  to  the  call  for  a  Convention.  Mrs. 
R.  R.  Sloan,  of  Ohio,  was  called  to  preside. 

3 


Miss  Alma  White  was  Secretary.  Mrs.  Pearre 
explained  fully  the  purpose  of  the  meeting,  and 
presented  plans  for  future  work.  Prayerfully 
and  fervently  the  matter  was  considered.  The 
result  was,  the  Christian  Woman’s  Board  of 
Missions  was  organized  October  22,  1874,  on 
which  date  the  Constitution  was  adopted, 
headquarters  placed  at  Indianapolis,  and  na¬ 
tional  officers  chosen  from  that  locality.  The 
Committee  on  Nominations  was  composed  of 
one  member  from  each  of  the  nine  States  rep¬ 
resented  in  the  organization,  namely,  Penn¬ 
sylvania,  Kentucky,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
Missouri,  Iowa,  Oregon,  West  Virginia.  The 
officers  elected  were,  President,  Mrs.  Maria 
Jameson;  Recording  Secretary,  Mrs.  William 
Wallace:  Corresponding  Secretary,  Mrs.  C.  N. 
Pearre;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  O.  A.  Burgess,  all  of 
Indianapolis,  Mrs.  Pearre  having  recently 
moved  there.  A  Vice-President,  a  Secretary, 
and  one  or  more  Managers  for  each  of  the  nine 
States  were  also  elected,  and  these,  all  together, 
constituted  the  Executive  Committee.  The 
management  of  the  work  was  given  to  those  in 
and  near  Indianapolis,  though  non-resident 
members  were  allowed  a  proxy  vote  on  all  mat¬ 
ters  of  importance. 

CHOOSING  OUR  FIRST  FIELD. 

In  answer  to  the  question,  “Now,  for  what 
definite  field  shall  we  work?  ”  the  following 
were  proposed:  1.  A  mission  in  our  great  West. 
2.  A  mission  among  our  Freedmen.  3.  Re¬ 
vival  of  the  Jamaica  Mission.  4.  Support  of 

4 


one  or  more  teachers  in  connection  with  the 
Free  Baptist  Mission  in  India  or  China.  All 
pledged  themselves  to  abide  by  the  decision  of 
the  majority.  The  merits  of  these  several 
fields  were  fully  stated  and  earnestly  consid¬ 
ered. 

The  Convention  had  friends  scattered  all 
through  the  West,  many  of  them  without 
church  privileges.  Four  million  slaves,  igno¬ 
rant  and  debased,  had  recently  been  freed 
within  our  borders.  The  deplorable  condition 
of  woman  in  India  and  China  was  touchingly 
portrayed  by  Dr.  Graham  of  the  Free  Baptist 
Mission,  with  an  appeal  in  their  behalf.  Ja¬ 
maica  had  been  a  mission  of  our  American 
Christian  Missionary  Society  for  several  years, 
in  charge  of  J.  O.  Beardsley,  and  with  en¬ 
couraging  success;  but  in  1864,  in  the  midst  of 
the  Civil  War,  was  abandoned  for  lack  of  funds. 
For  ten  years  our  seven  or  eight  little  congre¬ 
gations  over  there  had  been  without  a  minis¬ 
ter,  ignorant,  weak,  helpless,  and  they  kept 
piteously  pleading,  “Come  over  into  Jamaica 
again  and  help  us.”  ,  It  was  as  the  prophetic 
Ethiopia  stretching  out  her  hands  unto  God. 
The  vote  was  twice  retaken,  and  was  almost 
unanimously  for  Jamaica.  Thus  it  became  our 
first  field. 


FROM  1874  TO  1881. 

At  the  close  of  our  first  Convention,  our  col¬ 
lections  amounted  to  $430.  During  1875  our 
cause  grew  slowly  and  steadily,  but  it  was  not 
till  the  beginning  of  1876  that  our  funds  were 

5 


sufficient  for  us  to  send  out  a  missionary. 
Then  W.  H.  Williams,  of  Platte  City,  Mo.,  was 
sent.  He  sailed  from  New  York  January  29, 
and  landed  in  Kingston,  Saturday,  February  5. 
He  was  warmly  welcomed,  and  began  work  the 
next  day  by  preaching  to  about  thirty  in  the 
old,  dark,  leaky,  unpainted  chapel.  His  audi¬ 
ences  steadily  increased  till  the  house  could 
not  hold  the  people.  He  found  in  Kingston 
about  fifty  disciples  still  faithful,  all  colored  or 
black,  poor,  and  most  of  them  very  poor.  Most 
of  the  congregations  in  the  country  had  ceased 
meeting,  but  a  good  many  individual  members 
remained  faithful. 

From  the  first  he  taught  them,  among  other 
things,  the  important  lesson  of  self-support, 
impressing  upon  them  the  duty  and  habit  of 
systematic  giving  to  the  Lord’s  cause.  This 
they  cheerfully  accepted,  and  almost  without 
exception  each  pledged  a  definite  sum  weekly 
for  repairs  and  current  expenses.  His  regular 
work  was  Scripture  study  with  the  people, 
prayer  meetings,  Sunday-schools,  teachers’ 
meetings,  preaching  in  various  parts  of  the  city 
and  surrounding  country,  and  visiting  from 
house  to  house.  The  result  was  gradual  growth. 
Among  others  who  came  into  the  church  wTas 
an  English  gentleman,  Mr.  Smeeton,  a  Baptist, 
with  his  family.  He  greatly  aided  Bro.  Will¬ 
iams  by  opening  a  school  on  his  coffee  planta¬ 
tion  and  gathering  the  people  into  his  coffee-  ' 
picking  rooms  on  Lord’s  days,  when  he  read 
and  explained  the  Scriptures  to  them. 

Later,  James  Tilley,  also  an  Englishman,  a 

fi 


convert  of  Mr.  Spurgeon,  and  an  active  worker 
and  Bible  student,  came  into  the  church.  In 
due  time  he  was  ordained  to  the  ministry,  and 
in  1878  took  charge  of  several  congregations  in 
the  mountains  northward  from  Kingston.  He 
was  in  our  employ  till  1884,  when  he  came  to 
America  to  more  thoroughly  fit  himself  for  his 
work  by  a  course  of  Bible  study,  but  ere  long 
sickened  and  died. 

The  general  lack  of  schools  on  the  island, 
and  consequent  ignorance  of  the  natives,  soon 
made  it  evident  that  we  must  provide  for  at 
least  primary  education  in  connection  with  our 
mission  stations.  We  tried  to  do  this,  but 
found  it  exceedingly  difficult  to  get  efficient 
teachers,  also  suitable  books  and  other  appli¬ 
ances  for  school  work.  We  soon  saw,  too,  the 
need  of  establishing  a  training  school  in  Kings¬ 
ton,  and  we  sent  three  teachers,  at  different 
times,  for  this  work — Miss  Laughlin,  Miss  Per¬ 
kins  and  Miss  McEwan — but  the  hindrances 
were  such  that  it  was  not  accomplished. 

Mr.  Williams  resigned  his  work  in  Jamaica 
in  August,  1879.  The  next  April  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Isaac  Tomlinson  succeeded  him  in  the  mission, 
continuing  till  the  close  of  1881.  At  this  date 
we  had,  beside  the  Kingston  church,  four 
country  churches  and  four  out  stations,  with 
about  700  members ;  also,  several  Sunday- 
schools  and  day  schools.  During  all  these 
years  a  native  young  man  named  Darby  had 
been  an  efficient  helper  in  church  and  school 
work. 

In  1880  this  Board  appropriated  $750,  salary 

7 


for  Miss  Crease,  assistant  to  Mrs.  Delaunay,  of 
the  French  mission  in  charge  of  the  Foreign 
Christian  Missionary  Society.  In  1881  it  ap¬ 
propriated  $500  for  this  assistant,  and  $500  also 
for  an  assistant  for  Prof.  Delaunay.  In  April, 
1881,  it  employed  Elder  and  Mrs.  Faurot  to 
labor  among  the  Freedmen  at  Jackson,  Miss. 
At  the  end  of  thirteen  months  they  resigned, 
being  called  to  the  work  at  the  Southern  Chris¬ 
tian  Institute. 

OUR  MISSIONS. 

JAMAICA.  . 

When  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tomlinson  returned  to 
the  United  States  at  the  close  of  1881,  W.  K. 
Azbill  had  been  engaged  to  take  the  work 
there.  He  sailed  February  3,  1882,  and  had 
charge  of  that  field  about  four  years.  At  his 
going  the  Board  planned  liberally  for  Jamaica. 
His  term  there  may  be  called  the  building 
period.  All  our  chapels  on  the  island  were 
very  inferior,  even  the  one  in  the  city  of  Kings¬ 
ton.  Those  back  among  the  mountains  were 
mostly  mere  huts  made  of  bamboo  and  grass, 
all  old  and  much  dilapidated.  He  built  a 
chapel  and  a  mission  home  at  Kingston,  and 
the  same  at  Providence,  a  home  at  Kalorama, 
and  repaired  several  chapels.  The  expense  on 
account  of  the  mission  during  these  four  years 
was  about  $27,000,  including  salaries.  During 
two  years  of  this  time  W.  S.  Houchins  and 
Sallie  McEwan  were  employed  there.  On  his 
leaving  there,  early  in  1886,  the  work  was 
placed  in  charge  of  C.  E.  Randall,  an  English- 

8 


man  who  had  been  laboring  as  a  Baptist  mis¬ 
sionary  on  the  island  more  than  twenty  years, 
but  a  year  before  had  united  with  the  Disciples. 
J.  W.  Jenkins  and  R.  E.  Swartz  were  sent  out 
in  1886,  the  former  to  Providence,  remaining 
three  years;  the  latter  to  Kingston,  remaining 
two  years.  W.  H.  Hayden  was  at  Kingston 
from  July  to  November,  1888.  On  account  of 
the  difficulty  of  keeping  American  missionaries 
permanently  in  that  field,  Mr.  Randall  pro¬ 
posed  that  W.  T.  Moore,  then  in  London  in 
employ  of  the  Foreign  Board,  be  asked  to  select 
and  send  some  young  Englishmen  for  the  work 
there.  It  was  thought  these  might  be  more 
permanent,  as  Jamaica  is  under  English  rule. 
This  was  done,  and  in  1889  J.  H.  Versey,  W. 
W.  Rumsey  and  Claris  Yuell  came  over.  In 
1891  H.  L.  Gow  came.  In  1890  Mr.  Yuell  came 
to  America,  and  in  ’92  Mr.  Rumsey  came.  In 
’93  Mr.  Gow  left  the  field.  In  ’94  Mr.  Versey 
returned  to  England.  In  that  year  Mr.  Rum¬ 
sey  went  back  to  Jamaica  and  remained  till 
December,  ’96,  when  he  again  resigned  and 
came  to  America. 

A  venerable  Brother,  familiarly  known  as 
Father  Thompson,  has  aided  in  the  work  since 
1884,  all  that  his  great  age  and  feeble  health 
would  permit.  In  1899  he  was  called  from  labor 
to  reward. 

It  has  been  fitly  asked,  “  What  is  the  matter? 
Why  do  not  the  missionaries  remain  there?” 
Yes,  why?  Why  do  not  ministers  remain  with 
their  churches  here  in  America?  Who  can 
tell? 


9 


Early  in  1887  Mrs.  O.  A.  Burgess  and  Miss 
E.  J.  Dickinson  went  as  a  deputation  to  visit 
that  mission,  without  expense  to  the  Board. 
Their  work  was  “to  observe,  inspect  and  report 
on  all  phases  of  the  work  of  the  Christian 
Woman’s  Board  of  Missions  in  Jamaica.” 
They  sailed  from  New  Fork,  January  19,  in 
company  with  W.  K.  Azbill,  who  was  going 
to  the  island  on  account  of  some  unsettled 
business  interests  there.  They  were  gone 
three  months,  and  on  their  return  made  a  full 
report,  which  was  published  in  the  July  Tid¬ 
ings  of  that  year. 

Notwithstanding  the  ministry  of  that  mission 
has  been  so  changeful,  the  cause  has  grown 
right  along;  not  always  in  numbers,  but  rather 
in  the  Christian  character  of  the  church  mem¬ 
bers.  C.  E.  Randall  has  stood  heroically  by  in 
its  darkest,  as  well  as  in  its  brightest,  days.  He 
has  been  as  an  anchor  to  it.  His  children  are 
becoming  his  co-workers.  For  several  years  he 
and  two  native  ministers,  A.  C.  McHardy  and 
P.  M.  Robinson,  with  either  Mr.  Versey  or  Mr. 
Rumsey  most  of  the  time,  bore  the  burden  of 
the  work  there.  The  task  was  arduous.  Note 
some  of  the  difficulties.  The  area  occupied  by 
our  interests  there  is  about  twenty-nine  miles 
long  by  sixteen  miles  wide,  if  measured  in 
straight  lines.  This  area  is  very  irregular  in 
shape,  and  is  made  up  mostly  of  rocks  and 
mountains  broken  into  thousands  of  perilous 
steeps  and  precipices.  Danger  is  imminent 
almost  everywhere.  Most  of  the  traveling  must 
be  done  on  horseback  along  paths  steep  and 

10 


narrow,  and  so  winding  around  chasms  and 
over  and  around  mountains  that  one  must  often 
ride  thus,  in  slow  walk,  several  miles  to  reach 
a  point  one  mile  direct  from  the  starting  place. 

About  three-fourths  of  the  people  (aside  from 
about  15,000  whites)  are  black,  and  the  other 
fourth  are  various  shades  of  brown.  All  are 
poor,  nearly  all  very  poor ,  and  very  untaught 
in  everything  that  makes  people  intelligent. 
In  this  area  we  have  twenty-one  churches. 

For  several  years  very  little  favorable  consid¬ 
eration  was  given  to  Jamaica.  At  the  Dallas 
convention,  in  1895,  the  committee  on  that 
field  recommended  that  a  vigorous  prosecution 
of  the  work  there  be  resumed  at  once ;  that 
other  ministers  be  sent  there  as  soon  as  possi¬ 
ble,  and  that  provision  be  made  for  the  prepa¬ 
ration  of  a  native  ministry.  To  speak  this  was 
one  thing  ;  to  do  it  was  quite  another  thing.  It 
seemed  imperative,  to  those  having  the  matter 
in  hand,  that  they  should  possess  a  clearer 
knowledge  of  the  mission  than  could  be  ob¬ 
tained  through  correspondence.  To  visit  Ja¬ 
maica  and  secure  the  desired  information,  C.  C. 
Smith  was  chosen,  because  of  his  experience 
with  and  for  the  colored  people  of  our  own 
land,  and  because  of  his  eminent  fitness  for 
it  otherwise.  He  spent  two  months  there 
early  in  1896,  accomplished  the  purpose  of 
his  going,  made  full  report  to  the  Board  on  his 
return,  and  through  his  addresses,  and  his  arti¬ 
cles  in  the  Tidings  and  other  church  papers, 
has  given  to  our  people  generally  a  far  better 
knowledge  than  they  ever  had  before  concern- 


ll 


ing  that  land  of  rare  fertility  and  surpassing 
beauty,  concerning  its  people,  and  concerning 
the  condition  of  the  mission.  Among  the 
things  that  he  most  earnestly  counseled  was  a 
mission  home  at  Oberlin,  a  chapel  at  Torring- 
ton  (a  suburb  of  Kingston,  where  we  had  a 
mission  station),  and  the  sending  out  of  one  or 
more  ministers  at  an  early  date  ;  but  that  the 
time  for  planting  a  training  school  there  was 
past.  Instead  of  this,  he  advised  that  native 
young  men  of  pronounced  merit  be  sought  out 
there  and  brought  to  the  Southern  Chris¬ 
tian  Institute  in  Mississippi,  and  be  there  edu¬ 
cated  and  trained  for  the  ministry,  and  then 
sent  back  to  work  in  Jamaica. 

The  buildings  recommended  by  Mr.  Smith 
have  been  erected  and  his  plans  for  the  work 
followed.  Early  in  November  following,  just 
preceding  Mr.  Rumsey’s  departure,  Neil  Mac¬ 
Leod  and  his  sister,  Miss  Florence  J.  MacLeod, 
of  Evansville,  Ind.,  went  over  and  took  the  work 
at  King’s  Gate,  in  the  northern  part  of  Kings¬ 
ton.  About  the  same  time,  two  natives  of  Ja¬ 
maica,  Louis  Thomas,  of  the  Kingston  Church, 
and  Arnold  Shirley,  of  Fairy  Hill  Church,  came 
to  the  Southern  Christian  Institute  to  be  edu¬ 
cated,  being  recommended  for  it  by  Bro.  Ran¬ 
dall.  Our  present  ministerial  force  on  the  island, 
with  their  respective  districts,  are:  C.  E.  Randall 
and  wife,  in  Kingston  District ;  Neil  MacLeod, 
at  King's  Gate;  A.  C.  McHardy  and  wife,  Kal- 
orama;  P.  M.  Robinson  and  wife,  Berea;  A.  W. 
Meredith  and  wife,  Providence;  Henry  Morris, 


12 


an  aged  native,  Bethel;  G.  D.  Purdy  and  wife, 
Oberlin  District.  In  June,  1900,  Louis  Thomas 
and  Arnold  Shirley  returned  to  the  island,  the 
former  to  work  with  Henry  Morris  in  the  Beth¬ 
el  District  and  the  latter  at  Manning’s  Hill,  in 
the  Oberlin  District.  The  mission  is  better 
manned  than  it  has  ever  been.  There  are  now 
16  missionaries  and  assistants  in  Jamaica,  car¬ 
ing  for  21  congregations.  The  church  mem¬ 
bership  is  1,656.  There  are  19  Sunday-schools, 
with  an  enrollment  of  1,312.  There  are  15 
Christian  Endeavor  Societies,  with  a  member¬ 
ship  of  597.  There  are  4  Auxiliaries  to  the  Chris¬ 
tian  Woman’s  Board  of  Missions,  and  9  day- 
*  schools,  with  an  attendance  of  706. 

INDIA. 

Our  stations  in  India  are  at  Bilaspur  and 
Bina,  Central  Provinces;  Deoghur,  Bengal  and 
Mahoba,  Northwest  Provinces.  In  October, 
1900,  it  is  expected  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  M. 
Forrest  will  open  English  Bible  work  in  Cal¬ 
cutta. 

Bilaspur. 

In  October,  1881,  the  Christian  Woman’s 
Board  of  Missions  and  the  Foreign  Christian 
Missionary  Society  decided  to  co-operate  in  es¬ 
tablishing  a  mission  in  India.  In  September, 
1882,  the  company  sailed.  We  sent  four  young 
women,  Ada  Boyd,  Mary  Kingsbury,  Mary 
Graybiel  and  Laura  V.  Kinsey.  G.  L.  Whar¬ 
ton  and  L.  Norton  and  their  wives  were  sent 
by  the  Foreign  Board.  They  located  at  Hur- 
da,  Central  Provinces.  Soon  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Norton  withdrew  from  the  field,  and  shortly 

VS 


* 

after  M.  D.  Adams  and  wife  were  sent  out. 
These,  with  Misses  Kingsbury,  Graybiel  and 
Boyd,  went  200  miles  east  from  Hurda  and 
opened  a  station  at  Bilaspur,  where  the  Foreign 
Board  built  a  bungalow,  or  mission  home,  for 
their  workers,  and  we  built  one  for  ours.  Later, 
we  built  a  school-house  and  an  orphanage,  in 
1894  a  dormitory  and  a  hospital,  in  1898  a  phy¬ 
sician’s  bungalow  was  erected,  in  1899  a  second 
school-house  was  purchased,  and  in  1900  an¬ 
other  orphanage  dormitory  was  built. 

These  four  women  have  all  been  home  on  fur¬ 
lough,  but  eagerly  returned  to  their  work  in 
India,  though  not  all  to  Bilaspur.  Miss  Kings¬ 
bury  was  home  on  her  second  furlough,  from 
the  spring  of  1896  to  November,  1897,  when  she 
returned  to  India.  Miss  Ella  M.  Maddock,  of 
Elyria,  O.,  accompanied  her.  When  in  Bilaspur, 
Miss  Kingsbury  has  charge  of  the  Orphanage, 
in  which  she  mothers  from  75  to  100  otherwise 
motherless  babies  and  older  girls.  During  her 
absence  in  America,  Miss  Burgess,  of  Bina, 
took  this  work. 

Miss  Boyd  devotes  her  time  to  zenana  work, 
mainly.  She  visits  about  twenty-six  bunga¬ 
lows  regularly,  and  others  occasionally.  Of  the 
twenty-six,  eight  are  Mohammedan,  the  others 
Hindu.  In  1892  Mrs.  -  Bertha  F.  Lohr  was 
added  to  the  working  force  there,  and  has  di¬ 
vided  her  time  between  the  Chata  school  and 
the  Gol  Bazaar  school,  near  the  “  Gol  Bazaar” 
or  “Circular  Market.”  In  1899  the  govern¬ 
ment  offered  our  Board  several  schools  near 
Bilaspur.  Miss  Laura  E.  Marston  was  selected 


14 


to  assist  Mrs.  Lohr  in  caring  for  these  schools. 
All  these  women  are  aided  in  their  work  by 
native  heplers. 

In  1898  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  G.  Elsam  came  un¬ 
der  our  Board  and  were  placed  in  charge  of  the 
English  work. 

In  1888  we  sent  out  our  first  medical  mission¬ 
aries,  Drs.  Arabella  Merrill,  of  Illinois,  and 
Olivia  A.  Baldwin,  of  Texas.  They  opened  a 
dispensary  and  ministered  to  the  sick  while 
studying  the  language.  The  doctors  came 
home  on  furlough  in  1894.  Dr.  Merrill  did  not 
return.  In  1895  Dr.  E.  C.  L.  Miller  and  wife, 
Dr.  Lillian  B.  Miller,  were  sent  to  the  medical 
work  there.  In  1899  they  were  transferred  to 
Bina,  and  Dr.  Ada  McNeil  was  sent  to  take 
charge  of  the  hospital  and  dispensary. 

Bina,. 

When  three  of  our  first  missionaries  to  India 
went  to  Bilaspur,  Miss  Kinsey  remained  at 
Hurda.  In  1887  she  married  Ben  N.  Mitchell, 
a  missionary  laboring  in  Bombay,  under  an 
English  Methodist  Board.  While  on  a  visit  to 
Bilaspur,  previous  to  their  coming  to  America, 
in  1889,  he  was  immersed  by  Mr.  Adams  and 
identified  himself  with  the  Disciples  of  Christ. 
After  spending  four  years  in  this  country  we 
sent  them  back  to  India  in  1893,  and  with  them 
Misses  Ida  Kinsey,  of  Portland,  Ind.,  and  Mat- 
tie  W.  Burgess,  of  St.  Joseph,  Mo.  They 
opened  a  new  station  at  Bina,  where  they  labor 
among  the  English  and  Eurasians  as  well  as 
with  the  natives.  Miss  Kinsey  assumed  charge 
of  the  school  work,  which  she  continued  to 

15 


serve  until  her  return  to  the  United  States  in 
1899,  when  Miss  Gertrude  Amelia  Ottley  was 
secured  to  continue  it.  Miss  Burgess  had 
charge  of  the  zenana  work  until  called  to  Bi- 
laspur  to  relieve  Miss  Kingsbury,  in  order  that 
she  might  have  her  furlough.  Mrs.  Mitchell 
receives  and  attends  to  the  orphans,  coming 
to  the  station,  sending  the  girls  to  the  orphan¬ 
age  at  Mahoba,  the  boys  to  the  one  at  Damoh, 
a  station  of  the  F.  C.  M.  S.;  she  also  visits 
a  number  of  villages,  teaching  the  people,  and 
keeps  house.  She,  like  all  the  missionaries 
at  all  the  stations,  has  been  instant  in  season 
and  out  of  season,  feeding  and  caring  for  the 
starving  ones  during  the  dire  famine  times 
of  1897-8  and  1900.  Mr.  Mitchell  preaches 
and  looks  after  the  outside  work  generally,  in 
Bina  and  surrounding  villages.  He  was  the 
builder  of  his  own  bungalow,  and  it  is  one  of 
the  best.  A.  McLean  says  of  it:  “The  walls 
are  of  stone;  the  roof  is  of  tiles;  the  rafters  of 
steel.  He  has  planned  and  built  for  the  cen¬ 
turies.”  On  April  8,  1897,  was  organized  a 
Christian  church  in  Bina,  with  26  members. 
Of  these  18  are  European  and  Eurasians,  and 
8  are  natives.  One  Elder  and  one  Deacon  are 
English.  The  Treasurer  is  Eurasian,  the  Clerk 
is  of  Greek  descent,  and  the  other  Deacon  is  a 
native  of  India.  A  good  church  building  has 
been  erected,  also  a  school  house. 

JDeoghur. 

Deoghur  is  200  miles  west  from  Calcutta. 
The  work  there  was  begun  by  Miss  Jane  Wake- 


field  Adam,  a  native  of  Scotland.  She  had 
long  been  a  Baptist,  closely  studied  her  Bible 
and  yearned  for  Christian  union.  She  prayed 
to  be  sent  to  the  darkest  spot  in  India,  was 
guided  to  Deoghur,  and  for  seventeen  years 
has  given  herself  to  its  enlightenment.  She 
went  independent  of  any  church  or  Board, 
and  has  faithfully  sowed  the  good  seed  in 
bazaars,  temples  and  homes,  by  the  roadside 
and  among  lepers.  She  secured  a  godly  native 
evangelist  to  aid  in  the  work.  In  1893  she 
heard  of  our  workers  and  their  work  at  Bilas- 
pur,  and  visited  them.  The  visit  was  a  mutual 
joy.  The  result,  she  united  with  the  little 
band  of  Disciples  there.  In  1894  she  came 
into  the  employ  of  the  Christian  Woman’s 
Board  of  Missions,  bringing  her  work  with  her. 
She  was  then  65  years  old.  She  had  a  com¬ 
pound,  but  her  buildings  were  meager.  She 
lived  in  a  little  house  on  wheels  nine  years. 
She  needed  associate  workers  and  a  home.  In 
1895,  our  Board  sent  to  her  Misses  M.  Alice 
Spradlin  and  Bessie  Farrar.  At  the  opening 
of  war  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  Miss  Sprad¬ 
lin  left  India  to  go  as  a  nurse  among  the 
soldiers  of  the  United  States.  In  1898  Dr. 
Olivia  A.  Baldwin,  of  Texas,  and  Miss  Annie 
Agnes  Lackey,  of  iVrkansas,  were  sent  to  re¬ 
enforce  this  station;  Miss  Baldwin  to  have 
charge  of  the  orphanage  work,  and  Miss 
Lackey  to  do  zenana  work.  In  1899  Dr.  Mary 
Longdon,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  sent  to  assume 
the  medical  work.  During  this  year  Miss  Fred¬ 
die  Ehrenberg,  of  Australia,  learning  of  our 


people  and  plea,  cast  her  lot  with  us.  An 
excellent  bungalow  was  built  in  1899,  a  large 
orphanage  in  1899  and  1900.  A  second  build¬ 
ing  was  added  to  the  orphanage  plant  in  the 
autumn  of  1900,  in  order  that  large  numbers  of 
famine  children  might  be  accommodated.  At 
this  time  Miss  Ramsden  was  secured  as  an  as¬ 
sistant. 

Mahoba. 

On  returning  to  India  in  1894  from  her  fur¬ 
lough  in  this  country,  Miss  Graybiel  was  ac¬ 
companied  by  Miss  Adelaide  Gail  Frost.  They 
opened  a  new  station  at  Mahoba,  N.  W.  Pro¬ 
vinces,  and  were  cordially  received  by  the  peo¬ 
ple.  In  1895  Miss  Elsie  H.  Gordon  was  added  to 
this  station,  also  a  native  evangelist  and  his  wife, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Christian  Benjamin.  In  1896,  a  phy¬ 
sician,  Dr.  Rosa  Lee  Oxer,  was  sent  out  there. 
Mr.  Wm.  Burford,  of  South  Australia,  who  at¬ 
tended  the  Convention  at  Springfield,  Ill.,  that 
year,  kindly  contributed  her  passage  money, 
$400,  and  Dr.  and  Mrs.  H.  Gerould,  of  Cleve¬ 
land,  pay  her  salary.  In  1899  Miss  Susie  L. 
Rawson,  of  Ohio,  was  sent  to  Mahoba  to  do 
kindergartening  among  the  orphanage  little 
ones.  In  1900  Miss  Graybiel  and  Miss  Frost 
came  home  for  needed  rest.  Miss  May  Browne 
was  secured,  to  have  charge  of  the  school  work 
in  Miss  Frost’s  stead;  Dr.  Oxer  has  charge  of 
the  orphanage.  There  are  120  children  in  the 
orphanage.  The  church  has  almost  one  hun¬ 
dred  members.  This  station  has  excellent 
buildings,  the  principal  ones  being  the  bunga- 


18 


low,  orphanage,  orphanage  annex  and  school 
chapel. 

A.  McLean  visited  this  station.  He  says: 
“The  bungalow  is  surrounded  by  temples, 
shrines,  idols,  sacred  trees,  old  palaces  and  sut¬ 
tee  mounds.  It  is  a  light  in  a  dark  place.” 
During  the  famine  of  1896-7  they  instituted 
what  was  called  the  “  Children’s  Kitchen,” 
where  within  60  days  they  gave  out  more  than 
19,700  meals  to  starving  ones. 

UNITED  STATES. 

The  first  permanent  work  undertaken  by 
our  Board  in  the  home  land  was  in  Montana. 
In  1882  our  only  two  churches  in  that  terri¬ 
tory,  at  Helena  and  Deer  Lodge,  under  the 
leadership  of  Wm.  L.  Irvine  and  Massena  Bul¬ 
lard,  proposed  to  the  Board  that  they  would 
raise  $1,000,  provided  we  would  furnish  an  ad¬ 
ditional  $1,000,  to  put  an  evangelist  in  that 
field.  As  a  consequence,  in  October,  1883,  M. 
L.  Streator  and  Galen  Wood,  both  of  Ohio, 
took  charge  of  those  two  churches,  respect¬ 
ively.  Neither  had  a  church  building,  but 
each  congregation  met  in  a  court-house.  Helena 
had  thirty-eight  members,  Deer  Lodge  forty- 
three.  Each  congregation  proceeded  to  build 
a  house  of  worship  the  next  year.  Also,  in 
1884,  congregations  were  organized,  and  church 
houses  were  begun  in  Corvallis  and  Anaconda, 
with  W.  D.  Lear  minister  at  the  former,  and  J. 
L.  Phoenix  at  the  latter  place,  and  preaching 
was  begun  at  several  other  points.  At  the 


19 


close  of  the  missionary  year,  October,  1899,  the 
churches  reported  as  follows  : 

Anaconda,  B.  F.  Norris,  pastor,  membership 
31;  Big  Willows,  J.  W.  Moody,  pastor,  mem¬ 
bership  20:  Bozeman,  O.  F.  McHargue,  pastor, 
membership  143;  Butte,  E.O.  Tilburn,  pastor, 
membership  112,  Cascade,  J.  W.  Moody,  pas¬ 
tor,  membership  29;  Corvallis,  F.  F.  Grim, 
pastor,  membership  100;  Deer  Lodge,  H.  J. 
Corwine,  pastor,  membership  92;  Florence, 
membership  55;  Hamilton,  F.  F.  Grim,  pastor, 
membership  62;  Helena,  W.  M.  Jordan,  pastor, 
membership  100;  Highwood,  J.  W.  Moody, 
pastor,  membership  5;  Hogan,  J.  W.  Moody, 
pastor,  membership  93;  Missoula,  J.  C.  B. 
Stivers,  pastor,  membership  93;  South  Boulder, 
F.  A.  Parrish,  pastor,  membership  34:  Spring- 
Creek,  J.  F.  Adair,  pastor,  membership  17; 
Virginia  City,  membership  32;  Whitehall,  F. 
A.  Parrish,  pastor,  membership  29.  Baptisms 
in  the  year  in  the  entire  State,  67;  received  by 
letter,  78 ;  other  additions,  52;  total  member¬ 
ship  in  the  State,  1034. 

We  have  made  appropriations  annually  to 
Colorado  since  1891.  These  are  made,  not  to 
the  churches  directly,  but  to  the  State  Board, 
which  places  the  money  where  it  seems  most 
needed.  Those  to  Montana  are  made,  part 
to  the  churches  and  part  to  the  Montana 
Christian  Association.  In  1892  Ogden,  Utah, 
was  taken  under  our  care.  In  1893  Mr.  Streator 
was  made  Evangelist  for  the  West,  located  at 
Denver,  and  given  the  oversight  of  our  work  in 
Colorado,  Utah  and  Montana.  The  engage- 

20 


ment  for  this  work  closed  Dec.  31,  1897.  In 
California  aid  has  been  given  to  Sacramento 
and  to  Eureka  from  1891  to  ’96,  when  it 
was  able  to  support  itself.  Santa  Barbara 
was  aided  two  years.  In  1899  Salinas  was 
added  to  our  list  of  Mission  points  in  Califor¬ 
nia,  N.  In  March,  1889,  David  Wetzell  was 
sent  to  a  struggling  church  at  Portland,  Ore. 
Two  years  later  that  was  self-supporting.  Then 
in  1890  a  mission  was  started  among  the  Chi¬ 
nese  at  Portland,  and  Jeu  Hawk  was  placed  in 
charge  in  1892,  and  continued  until  the  spring 
of  1900,  when  he  resigned  the  work  to  return  to 
China  as  a  Medical  Missionary.  Louie  Hugh 
had  been  assisting  him  for  some  months  and 
took  charge  of  the  mission  when  Jeu  Hawk  re¬ 
signed  it.  For  the  year  closing  with  Septem¬ 
ber,  1899,  the  mission  report  was  as  follows: 

Money  raised  for  all  missionary  purpo¬ 
ses . $110  85 

Money  paid  to  teachers  by  scholars ....  433  00 


Scholars  enrolled .  63 

Average  attendance  every  night . .  27 

Sermons  preached .  70 

Conversions .  6 


Local  church  aid  has  been  given  to  various 
points  in  Kansas  and  Nebraska;  also  to  Buf¬ 
falo  and  Rochester,  N.  Y.;  Altoona,  Pa.;  Roan¬ 
oke,  Newport  News,  Charlottesville  and  Crewe, 
Va.;  Winston,  N.  C.;  Athens,  Ga.;  Duluth, 
Minn.;  3rd  church,  Portland,  Ore.;  West  Supe¬ 
rior,  Wis.;  Everett,  Wash.;  Huntington,  W. 


21 


Va.;  Toledo,  O.,  Washington,  D.  C.;  Tyler,  Tex., 
Ft.  Wayne,  Ind.,  and  other  places.  Also  appro¬ 
priations  ha.ve  been  made  to  the  State  work  in 
Arkansas,  New  York,  Minnesota,  Wisconsin, 
N.  Carolina,  Oklahoma  and  Florida,  and  for 
two  years  to  a  State  Evangelist  for  Washington, 
who  devoted  part  of  his  time  to  Oregon  and 
Idaho;  also  to  the  colored  C.  W.  B.  M.  for  an 
Evangelist  to  labor  among  that  people. 

Ann  Arbor. 

Ann  Arbor,  the  seat  of  Michigan  University, 
one  of  the  largest  and  most  popular  institutions 
for  higher  education  in  America,  contains  about 
14,000  inhabitants.  There  are  about  3,000  stu¬ 
dents  in  the  University,  coming  from  every 
State  in  the  Union  and  all  parts  of  the  civilized 
world.  Many  of  these  are  seekers  after  truth 
in  its  broadest  and  best  sense.  In  1886  the 
Michigan  State  Board  of  Missions  named  this 
city  to  the  Disciples  as  a  most  important  point 
in  which  to  plant  a  church  when  the  way  should 
open  for  it.  At  once  the  Christian  Woman’s 
Missionary  Society  of  Michigan  and  the  Chris¬ 
tian  Woman’s  Board  of  Missions  began  planning 
to  accomplish  this  work.  At  that  time  a  Godly 
woman,  Mrs.  Sarah  Hawley  Scott,  was  a  mem¬ 
ber  of  the  Central  Church  of  Christ  in  Detroit, 
and  of  the  Auxiliary  in  that  church.  In  Feb¬ 
ruary,  1887,  she  rested  from  her  labors.  She 
bequeathed  most  of  her  estate  to  her  Auxiliary, 
the  Christian  Woman’s  Board  of  Missions, 
the  Michigan  State  Board  and  G.  C.  M.  C. 
These  four  parties  soon  agreed  among  them- 

22 


selves  that  all  the  bequests,  amounting  to 
$12,590.33,  should  be  used  in  the  erection  of  a 
church  building  in  Ann  Arbor,  with  the  under¬ 
standing  that  the  Christian  Woman’s  Board 
of  Missions  take  charge  of  the  work  and 
foster  a  mission  there.  A  lot  was  purchased 
by  the  Disciples  of  Michigan,  and  the  founda¬ 
tion  for  the  building  laid  in  1888.  Delays  in 
settling  the  Scott  estate  and  in  securing  ad¬ 
ditional  funds  so  retarded  the  work  that  it 
was  not  completed  till  1891.  The  entire  cost 
including  lot,  heating,  furniture,  etc.,  was 
about  $17,000.  C.  A.  Young  began  work  there 
as  pastor  August  15,  1891.  The  dedication 
services  were  held  October  11,  B.  B.  Tyler,  of 
New  York,  preaching  the  sermon.  The  church 
was  organized  October  25,  with  twenty-nine 
members,  most  of  them  students  in  the  Uni¬ 
versity.  About'  twenty  citizens  were  added 
during  a  meeting  in  January,  1892.  The  growth 
of  the  congregation  in  numbers  and  spirituality 
has  been  gradual  and  steady  since  that  time. 
The  present  membership  is  150;  about  forty- 
five  of  these  are  students.  It  is  a  working 
church.  It  contributes  generously  to  all  de¬ 
partments  of  the  church  work,  home  and 
foreign.  It  has  a  Mission  Band,  a  Junior  C.  E. 
Society,  a  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.,  a  Ladies’  Aid  Soci¬ 
ety,  an  Auxiliary,  and,  of  course,  a  Sunday- 
school.  For  two  years  it  has  been  conducting 
a  mission  at  Carpenter’s  Corners,  in  the  city, 
from  which  several  persons  have  come  into 
the  church.  W.  M.  Forrest  served  as  pastor 
from  June,  1896,  until  June,  1900,  when  W.  T. 

23 


Grafton  was  chosen  to  succeed  him,  Mr.  For¬ 
rest  having  resigned  to  take  up  Bible  work  in 
Calcutta,  India. 

UNIVERSITY  BIBLE  WORK. 

At  the  State  Convention  of  Michigan,  August 
27,  1892,  “a  committee  was  appointed  to  make 
arrangements  for  the  endowment  of  an  English 
Bible  Chair,  at  Ann  Arbor,  Mich.,  in  connec¬ 
tion  with  the  University.”  This  committee 
earnestly  appealed  to  the  Christian  Woman’s 
Board  of  Missions  to  undertake  this  work.  It 
was  carefully,  prayerfully  considered  by  the 
Executive  Committee  and  approved.  At  the 
Nashville  Convention  in  October  following,  the 
President,  Mrs.  Burgess,  in  her  annual  address, 
recommended  it.  This  was  a  new  departure.  No 
such  thing  existed,  the  world  over.  She  said  : 
u  The  way  is  open,  if  we  have  the  courage  to  un¬ 
dertake  it,  for  the  establishment  of  an  English 
Bible  Chair,  at  the  seat  of  the  University  of 
Michigan.  The  great  U  niversity  is  already  estab¬ 
lished  there,  and  the  courtesies  of  the  institu¬ 
tion  are  offered  to  us.  The  demand  for  Bible 
study  can  be  met  by  endowing  a  chair  and  put¬ 
ting  a  competent  teacher  in  charge.”  It  was  a 
heroic  step,  but  she  had  studied  the  matter, 
she  had  faith,  and  she  took  the  step.  The 
recommendation  was  freely  discussed  and  in¬ 
dorsed  by  many  representative  Brothers  and 
Sisters  in  the  Convention,  and  then  referred 
to  a  committee,  who  reported  recommending 
that  the  Executive  Committee  be  instructed  to 
select  some  one  to  travel,  to  encourage  and  ad- 

24 


vance  this  enterprise  as  much  as  possible  dur¬ 
ing  the  coining  year,  “with  the  distinct  under¬ 
standing  that  our  G.  W.  B.  M.  treasury  is 
not  to  be  drawn  upon  for  this  purpose .” 
This  was  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Conven¬ 
tion  and  warmly  approved  by  J.  W.  McGarvey, 
J.  H.  Garrison,  B.  B.  Tyler  and  others.  The 
Executive  Committee  followed  their  instruc¬ 
tions.  C.  A.  Young  was  sent  into  the  field 
and  H.  L.  Willett  called  to  the  Ann  Arbor  pul¬ 
pit  during  his  absence.  The  work  of  the  Bible 
Chairs  began  Oct.  1,  1893,  with  H.  L.  Willett, 
instructor,  and  Clinton  Lockhart,  assistant. 
Clinton  Lockhart  resigned  at  the  end  of  the  first 
year.  Then  the  work  was  carried  on  by  Messrs. 
Willett  and  Young  till  February,  1895,  when 
Mr.  Willett,  having  taken  work  in  Chicago  Uni¬ 
versity,  G.  P.  Coler  was  secured  for  the  Bible 
Chair  work.  Since  the  work  was  begun,  stu¬ 
dents  have  been  enrolled  and  funds  collected 
from  Oct.  1,  each  year,  as  follows: 


1892- 3.  Enrollment...  00  Receipts .  $1,743  20 

1893- 4.  “  ...  59  “  .  3,453  54 

1894- 5.  “  54  “  .  3,434  46 

1895- 6.  “  ....  95  “  .  3,906  50 

1896- 7.  “  ....130  “  4,61218 

1897- 8.  “  ....136  “  .  5,550  42 


Total  receipts. .$22,700  30 

Of  this  amount  $8,547.53  was  placed  in  the 
permanent  endowment  fund.  The  balance  was 
expended  in  the  work. 

In  July,  1898,  Mrs.  Helen  E.  Moses  was 
called  to  Indianapolis  to  serve  as  Bible  Chair 
Secretary,  in  order  to  carry  out  the  recom¬ 
mendation  of  the  Convention  of  1896 — that  $25,- 

25 


000  be  raised  for  the  endowment  of  the  English 
Bible  Chair.  This  amount  was  raised  by  the 
time  of  the  Cincinnati  Convention,  1899.  In 
1897  this  work  was  inaugurated  in  the  Uni¬ 
versities  of  Virginia  and  Georgia,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  C.  W.  B.  M.,  the  churches  in 
these  states  being  responsible  for  the  expenses. 
In  1898  Col.  John  B.  Cary,  of  Richmond,  Va., 
who  was  a  loyal  friend  of  the  Bible  Chair  en¬ 
terprise,  died.  His  family  knew  his  deep  inter¬ 
est  in  Bible  work  for  the  University  of  Virginia, 
so  gave  in  his  memory  the  sum  of  $10,000  to 
found  the  John  B.  Cary  Bible  Lectureship  in 
the  University  of  Virginia.  Dr.  Charles  A. 
Young  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  work.  Dur¬ 
ing  1899  63  students  took  the  courses  of  Bible 
study  offered,  ilugust  1,  1900,  there  was  $17,- 
000  in  the  endowment  fund  of  the  John  B.  Cary 
Lectureship. 

OUR  MOUNTAIN  MISSIONS. 

Hazel  Green  and  Morehead. 

For  several  years  the  Sisters  in  Kentucky 

■ 

were  sustaining  a  “  Mountain  Mission  ”  in  their 
State,  building  up  a  school  and  church  at 
Hazel  Green,  Wolfe  county.  In  1886,  this  was 
provisionally  placed  in  the  care  of  the  C.  W. 
B.  M.  In  1888  it  was  formally  and  fully  trans¬ 
ferred  to  this  Board  and  became  one  of  its 
permanent  enterprises.  The  school  opened 
that  autumn  with  R.  H.  Wynne,  principal; 
Emma  Jenkins,  assistant.  The  property  was 
valued  at  $3,500.  Mr.  Wynne  taught  during 

the  week  and  preached  every  Lord’s  Day.  The 

26 


design  from  the  first  was  to  make  it  a  training 
school  for  Christian  teachers,  who,  with  their 
own  characters  built  up  and  strengthened, 
mentally  and  spiritually,  should  go  out  into 
their  own  neglected  mountain  districts  to  up¬ 
lift  and  train  in  the  Christian  life  other  young 
people,  who  were  otherwise  almost  destitute 
of  educational  advantages.  In  September,  1890, 
W.  H.  Cord  and  wife  took  charge  of  the  work 
there.  In  1891  the  Board  built  the  Academy 
Home  at  a  cost  of  about  $3,500.  During  the  ses¬ 
sion  of  1890-1  76  pupils  enrolled.  Tuition  re¬ 
ceipts  were  $303.  Session  of  1896-7  143  enrolled. 
Sessions  of  1898-9  159  enrolled.  It  was  the 
first  mission  of  the  kind  in  the  mountains,  of 
Kentucky.  Now  12  have  been  started  by  four 
denominations . 

In  December,  1899,  the  dormitory  was  burned 
for  the  second  time.  Arrangements  were  made 
to  accommodate  the  students  without  rebuild¬ 
ing- 

After  this  second  fire  Prof.  Cord,  the  princi¬ 
pal  of  the  school,  and  Prof.  F.  C.  Button, 
principal  of  the  Mbrehead  Mountain  Mission 
school,  had  some  correspondence  concerning 
the  removal  of  our  school  to  Morehead,  which 
was  the  property  of  the  State  Missionary 
Board  of  Kentucky.  Later  an  interview  was 
held  with  President  J.  W.  McGarvey,  of  the 
Kentucky  Board.  A  tender  of  the  Morehead 
school  property,  which  consists  of  sixty-three 
acres  of  ground,  a  good  school  building  and 
dormitory,  was  made  to  our  Board.  The  Ken¬ 
tucky  officers  of  the  Christian  Woman’s  Board 

27 


of  Missions  were  asked  to  advise  us  regarding 
the  acceptance  of  this  offer.  The  Kentucky 
Board  reported  as  follows: 

“We  heard  the  respective  pleas  of  Morehead 
and  Hazel  Green,  presented  by  delegates  from 
those  points.  Since  the  gentlemen  have  sent 
their  communications  to  headquarters,  it  is 
needless  for  me  to  repeat  what  was  said  by 
them.  Brethren  McGarvey,  Collis  and  Spen¬ 
cer  were  present. 

“  We  would  not  decide  at  the  first  meeting, 
but  we  thought  over  the  question  for  twenty- 
four  hours  carefully,  and  with  earnest  prayers 
for  the  guidance  of  our  Heavenly  Father.  On 
Wednesday  afternoon,  May  30,  we  decided  to 
recommend  to  our  National  Board  that  our 
school  be  transferred  from  Hazel  Green  to 
Morehead,  provided  the  citizens  of  Morehead 
comply  with  their  promise  to  give  the  Chris¬ 
tian  Woman’s  Board  of  Missions  $2,500  in 
cash,  all  the  stone  for  buildings  or  walks  that 
we  may  desire,  and  that  a  satisfactory  deed 
can  be  furnished  to  the  Christian  Woman’s 
Board  of  Missions  from  the  owners  of  the 
school  property  in  Morehead. 

“We  further  recommend  that  our  National 
Board  consider  the  practicability  of  maintain¬ 
ing  an  academic  school  at  Hazel  Green  as  a 
‘feeder’  to  Morehead. 

“We  are  anxious  to  do  right  in  this  matter 
and  to  take  no  wrong  step,  and  our  recommen¬ 
dations  are  submitted  in  humility  and  in  the 
fear  of  God,  with  the  earnest  prayer  that  our 
National  Board  may  be  guided  by  Him  in  this 


matter.  We  really  feel  that  it  would  be  well 
for  some  of  you  to  come  to  Kentucky  and  view 
the  location.” 

This  recommendation  was  adopted.  The 
Board  continued  the  school  in  Hazel  Green, 
leaving  it  in  charge  of  Prof.  Cord,  while  Prof. 
Button  was  given  charge  of  the  school  in  More- 
head,  Rowen  county,  Ky. 

MEXICO. 

/ 

During  the  year  1895  the  way  seemed  to  open 
for  the  Christian  Woman’s  Board  of  Missions 
to  start  a  mission  in  C.  Juarez,  Mexico,  oppo¬ 
site  El  Paso,  Tex.  M.  L.  Hoblit,  who  already 
was  master  of  the  Spanish  language,  was  en¬ 
gaged  to  take  charge  of  it.  He  began  work 
December  1  of  that  year.  A  school  was  opened 
September  1,  1896.  Miss  Bertha  C.  Mason,  of 
Houston,  Tex.,  was  employed  to  aid  in  this  and 
other  work.  The  location  did  not  prove  satis¬ 
factory.  The  school  closed  in  May,  1897. 
Monterey  was  recommended  as  a  better  mis¬ 
sion  point;  Mr.  Hoblit  moved  there  in  June. 
In  1899  Mr.  Hoblit  returned  to  the  United 
States,  and  for  several  months  the  mission  was 
without  a  worker.  In  the  beginning  of  1900 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  L.  M.  Omer,  of  Danville,  Va., 
were  chosen  to  go  to  Monterey,  to  be  accompa¬ 
nied  by  Miss  Bertha  C.  Mason,  of  Houston, 
Tex.,  Miss  Clara  L.  Case,  of  Ann  Arbor,  Mich., 
and  Francesco  Puebla,  of  San  Angelo,  Tex. 
These  missionaries  have  taken  hold  of  the  work 
with  vigor.  Twelve  members  of  the  church 
have  been  found  in  the  city,  regular  services 

29 


are  held,  a  Sunday-school,  Auxiliary  and  Jun¬ 
ior  Christian  Endeavor  Society  have  been  or¬ 
ganized,  and  both  day  and  night  schools  are 
held.  Miss  Mason  and  Miss  Case  have  vis¬ 
ited  San  Luis  Potosi,  have  found  several  Dis¬ 
ciples  there,  and  have  organized  an  Auxiliary. 
Mr.  Omer  will  visit  this  point  occasionally, 
preaching  for  these  friends. 

PORTO  RICO. 

In  1899  the  city  authorities  of  Bayamon, 
Porto  Rico,  offered  our  Board  the  perpetual 
use  of  property  in  their  city,  if  we  would  estab¬ 
lish  and  maintain- an  Orphanage  there.  The 
offer  was  accepted,  and  the  Orphanage  opened 
August  1,  1900,  with  Mrs.  A.  M.  Fullen  in 
charge. 

OFFICERS  SINCE  1874. 

Mrs.  Maria  Jameson  was  President  from  Oc¬ 
tober,  1874,  to  October,  1880 ;  Mrs.  O.  A.  Bur¬ 
gess  from  October,  1880,  to  March,  1881,  when 
she  resigned  on  removing  to  Chicago.  Then 
Mrs.  Jameson  was  again  called  to  this  position 
and  served  till  October,  1890.  From  that  date 
to  present  time  Mrs.  Burgess  has  been  again 
serving. 

Mrs.  C.  N.  Pearre  was  Corresponding  Secre¬ 
tary  from  October,  1874,  to  October,  1875;  Mrs. 
Sarah  Wallace  till  October,  1880;  Mrs.  Jameson 
to  March,  1881 ;  Mrs.  Sarah  E.  Shortridge, 
March,  1881,  to  April  1,  1890,  when  she  fell 
asleep  in  Christ ;  Miss  Lois  A.  White  from 
April,  1890,  to  October,  1899  ;  Mrs.  Helen  E. 
Moses  from  October,  1899,  to  present  time. 

30 


4 


Mrs.  Sarah  Wallace  was  Recording  Secretary 
from  1874  to  1876  ;  Miss  Marie  Cole  from  1876 
to  1878  ;  Mrs.  Naomi  Tomlinson,  1878  to  1880  ; 
Mrs.  Lizzie  A.  Moore,  1880  to  1887;  Mrs.  Sarah 
Wallace,  1887  to  1889;  Mrs.  Annie  B.  Morrison, 
1889  to  present  time.  In  1894  she  married  Col. 
S.  F.  Gray. 

Mrs.  O.  A.  Burgess  was  Treasurer  from  1874 
to  1878  ;  Mrs.  R.  T.  Brown,  1878  to  1880  ;  Mrs. 
Mary  C.  Cole,  1880  to  1890  ;  Mrs.  J.  R.  Ryan, 
1880  to  1892  ;  Miss  Mary  J.  Judson,  1892  to 
present  date. 

EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 

This  committee,  as  described  under  “Organ¬ 
ization,”  soon  became  cumbrous.  In  1886  the 
constitution  was  so  amended  as  to  omit  the 
State  Managers.  Also,  instead  of  having  a 
Vice-President  in  each  State,  that  there  should 
be  State  Presidents  only,  and  a  National  Vice- 
President  was  provided  for.  Mrs.  O.  A.  Bur¬ 
gess  thus  served  the  Board  from  1887  to  1890  ; 
Mrs.  Mary  Armstrong,  1890  to  1892;  since  then 
Mrs.  A.  M.  Atkinson.  The  State  Presidents 
and  Secretaries  were  continued  members  of  the 
committee,  having  each  a  proxy  vote  on  impor¬ 
tant  matters.  The  local  Executive  Committee 
meets  regularly  the  1st  and  3d  W^ ednesdays  of 
each  month  in  albday  sessions  at  the  office  in 
Indianapolis,  in  the  interest  of  the  work.  These 
ought  to  be  to  all  C.  W.  B.  M.  women  every¬ 
where  days  of  effectual,  fervent  prayer,  that 
wisdom  from  above  in  large  measure  may  be 
given  to  these  women  as  they  consider  the  im- 

31 


portant  and  often  very  complicated  and  per¬ 
plexing  problems  that  come  to  them  for  solu¬ 
tion. 

MISSION  BANDS  AND  JUNIOR  CHRIS¬ 
TIAN  ENDEAVOR  SOCIETIES. 

Organizing  and  training  the  children  sys¬ 
tematically  for  Mission  work  was  begun  by  our 
Board  in  1884,  and  placed  in  care  of  a  National 
Superintendent,  Mrs.  Joseph  King.  A  few 
Bands  had  been  formed  before  that  time,  but 
they  were  working  independently.  In  1885 
Mrs.  King  reported  the  Department  well  started 
and  growing,  but  the  children  wanted  some 
definite  object  to  wTork  for  as  their  own  special 
business.  While  the  Board  was  casting  about 
for  some  suitable  work  for  them,  the  sad  news 
came  from  Japan  that  Mrs.  Josephine  Smith,  a 
Missionary  of  the  F.  C.  M.  S.,  had  fallen  asleep 
in  that  far-away  land.  Then  came  the  thought 
of  erecting  a  chapel  to  her  memory  in  Akita, 
where  she  lived,  labored  and  died.  With  one 
mind  the  children  took  hold  of  it.  In  1886 
Mrs.  King  reported  that  the  needed  amount, 
$1,700,  was  in  the  treasury.  Building  was 
made  their  special  work,  and  they  have  been 
building,  building,  ever  building  homes,  chap¬ 
els,  schools,  orphanages,  hospitals,  constantly 
since  that  time. 

In  1887  and  8  they  worked  for  a  bungalow 
at  Bilaspur,  India,  and  a  church  at  Mis¬ 
soula,  Mont.;  in  1889,  school-house  and  orphan¬ 
age  at  Bilaspur;  1890,  hospital,  Bilaspur;  1891, 


aiding  the  General  Fund  mainly;  1892,  furnish¬ 
ing  hospital;  1893,  school  in  Kingston;  1891,  dor¬ 
mitory  in  Bilaspur;  1895,  bungalow  in  Bina  and 
enlargement  of  Chata  school  in  Bilaspur;  1896, 
bungalow  and  orphanage  in  Mahoba,  and  $1,000 
for  support  of  orphans  in  India;  1897,  for  a  Mis¬ 
sion  home  at  Oberlin  and  chapel  at  Torrington, 
Jamaica,  and  $5,000  for  buildings  in  India, 
comprising  a  two-story  addition  to  the  orphan¬ 
age,  and  a  five-room  building  used  at  present 
for  a  woman’s  home,  at  Mahoba,  and  some  re¬ 
pairs  on  the  Bina  bungalow;  1898,  a  school 
chapel  at  Mahoba,  a  school-house  at  Bina,  and 
a  bungalow  at  Bilaspur,  India,  and  a  chapel  at 
Berea,  Jamaica;  1899,  a  bungalow  and  orphan¬ 
age  at  Deoghur,  India,  a  chapel  at  Ober¬ 
lin,  Jamaica,  and  the  purchase  of  a  property  in 
Kingston;  1900,  enlargement  of  our  orphanages 
in  India,  and  fitting  up  the  orphanage  building 
at  Porto  Rico.  Since  the  opening  of  the  or¬ 
phanage  work  the  children’s  funds  have  done 
much  toward  supporting  the  orphans,  and  in 
1900  the  young  people  began  to  assist  in  paying 
the  salaries  of  the  missionaries  and  native 
helpers  through  their  Special  Object  Fund. 

About  1892  and  later,  when  enthusiasm  was 
greatest  in  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement, 
many  of  our  Mission  Bands  changed  to  Junioi 
Endeavor  Societies,  and  whatever  money  they 
raised  was  applied  to  local  demands  or  given 
indiscriminately.  Some  of  them  raised  none. 
Thus,  they  were  lost  to  us,  and  they  lost  the 
missionary  training  that  they  had  been  receiv¬ 
ing  in  the  Bands.  It  was  a  serious  question 

33 


how  to  correct  this,  but  they  were  gradually 
educated  back  to  giving  for  missions,  in  part, 
and  then  the  officers  of  the  United  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavor  greatly  aided  by  publish¬ 
ing  the  following:  “  In  order  to  encourage  the 
giving  of  money  through  the  denominational 
Boards,  we  have  made  it  a  rule  that  only  Socie¬ 
ties  whose  contributions  were  sent  in  that  way 
should  be  enrolled  upon  the  Roll  of  Honor.” 

Mrs.  King  served  as  National  Superintendent 
of  this  department  from  1884  to  1893;  Mrs.  J. 
C.  Black  from  1893  to  1896;  since  then  Miss 
Mattie  Pounds. 

In  1890  Missouri  appointed  a  State  Superin¬ 
tendent  of  this  work,  which  proved  so  helpful 
there  that  other  States  soon  followed  the  ex¬ 
ample.  In  October,  1886,  Mrs.  King  reported 
the  whole  number  of  bands  156.  In  1896,  Mrs. 
Black  reported  whole  number  of  Bands,  Circles 
and  Junior  Societies  675.  As  Miss  Pounds 
says,  “  It  has  been  a  popular  work  from  its  be¬ 
ginning,  and  has  made  steady  increase  in  both 
the  number  of  Societies  connected  with  it,  and 
in  the  amount  of  their  contributions,  as  will  be 
seen  from  the  following  table : 

Amount 

Contributed. 


1884- 5  No.  Mission  Bands .  28  $147  03 

1885- 6  “  “  155  1,520  76 

1886- 7  “  “  222  3,496  02 

1887- 8  “  “  415  4,259  55 

1888- 9  No.  M.  B.  &  M.  Cir .  533  3,163  50 

1889- 90  “  “  447  4,927  76 

1890- 1  •  “  “  524  4,673  43 

1891- 2  “  “  438  3,115  86 

1892- 3  No.  M.  B.,  M.  C.  &  Junior  S.  C.  E. . .  448  4,682  75 

1893- 4  “  “  .633  5,031  45 

1894- 5  No.  M.  B.,  M.  C.  &  Junior  and  In¬ 

termediate  S.  C.  E .  674  5,548  01 


34 


1895- 6  No.  M.  B.,  M.  C.  &  Junior  and  In- 

termediate  S.  C.  E .  691 

1896- 7  No.  M.  B.,  M.  C.  &  Junior  and  In¬ 

termediate  S.  C.  E . 1146 

1897- 8  No.  M.  B.,  M.  C.  &  Junior  and  In‘  „ 

termediate  S.  C.  E . 1687 

1898- 9  No.  M.  B.,  M.  C.  &  Junior  and  In¬ 

termediate  S.  C.  E . 


6,760  89 
10,035  87 
12,265  22 
17,138  41 


LITERATURE. 

Until  1883,  we  had  no  literature  of  our  own, 
either  permanent  or  current.  True,  the  editors 
of  our  church  papers  from  the  first  gave  us 
freest  use  of  their  columns  for  the  promotion 
of  our  work,  and  these  favors  were  gratefully 
accepted,  but  a  paper  wholly  devoted  to  our 
mission  interests  had  been  greatly  needed  ail 
the  time.  Lack  of  means  prevented  our  start¬ 
ing  it  until  in  May  of  this  year,  the  first  num¬ 
ber  of  the  Missionary  Tidings  was  issued, 
edited  by  Mrs.  M.  M.  B.  Goodwin.  It  was  a 
small,  four-page  monthly  paper.  Mrs.  Good¬ 
win’s  health  so  failed  during  the  summer  that 
she  resigned  in  September  following,  and  a 
Publication  Committee,  Mrs.  L.  A.  Moore  and 
Mrs.  S.  E.  Shortridge,  had  charge  of  it  till  1888. 
Since  then  it  has  been  edited  by  the  Corres¬ 
ponding  Secretary.  It  is  now  a  thirty-two  page 
paper,  with  13,500  copies  issued  per  month. 

In  1885,  we  started  a  Leaflet  fund  and  sup¬ 
ply.  We  keep  in  stock  a  large  supply  of  these 
valuable  little  helpers,  for  both  the  older  and 
the  younger  people.  During  1899  and  1900  ten 
million  pages  of  Missionary  literature  were  sent 
out  from  our  office.  In  May,  1890,  we  began 
publishing  Little  Builders  at  Work ,  an  eight- 
page  monthly  paper  for  our  young  people.  In 

35 


May,  1896,  the  name  was  changed  to  Junior 
Builders.  It  is  now  a  handsome,  illustrated 
twenty-four  page  paper.  Each  month  13,000 
copies  of  it  are  issued. 

GENERAL  AGENT. 

On  the  return  of  W.K.  Azbill  from  Jamaica, 
where  he  was  in  the  service  of  this  Board  from 
1882  to  1886,  he  was  employed  as  General 
Agent  of  the  C.  W.  B.  M.  “  His  principal  mis¬ 
sion  was  the  enlightenment  of  the  churches 
concerning  our  organization,  to  instruct  weak 
Societies,  stimulate  the  careless  and  indifferent 
and  encourage  and  strengthen  all.”  Beside 
this  he,  at  various  times  and  places,  gave  atten¬ 
tion  to  property  interests  of  the  Board,  as  at 
Hazel  Green,  Ann  Arbor,  Butte  City,  etc. 
Early  in  1889  this  service  was  discontinued, 
and  Mr.  Azbill  passed  from  our  employ. 

HOUR  OF  PRAYER. 

In  July,  1887,  Joseph  King  earnestly  ap¬ 
pealed  to  our  Executive  Committee  “to  fix 
upon  and  name  a  day  and  hour  in  each  week 
for  prayer,  when  all  whose  hearts  move  them  to 
pray  may  retire  to  their  closets  and  make 
united  supplication  for  the  cause  of  missions, 
for  missionaries  and  for  the  churches.  *  *  * 
What  an  inspiration  to  our  missionaries  to 
know  that  on  a  certain  hour  in  every  week 
thousands  pray  for  them!  And,  above  all,  it 
would  make  glad  the  heart  of  Christ.”  This 
was  brought  before  the  National  Convention 
in  October  and  warmly  approved.  Five  o’clock 

36 


Lord’s  Day  evening  is  the  appointed  time.  It 
is  a  sweet,  a  holy  hour.  God’s  benediction  rests 
upon  it.  Jesus  blesses  it.  Let  every  one  ob¬ 
serve  it. 

THE  OFFICE. 

During  the  first  thirteen  years  of  our  exist¬ 
ence  as  a  Board  of  Missions  all  the  books  and 
papers  were  kept  in  the  homes  of  the  officers. 
The  Executive  meetings,  too,  were  held  in  the 
homes.  The  Convention  in  1887  directed  the 
establishment  of  an  office  for  headquarters, 
where  all  records  and  documents  of  every  kind 
should  be  kept,  Executive  meetings  held  and 
the  business  of  the  Board  transacted.  This 
direction  was  early  carried  out.  Three  rooms 
in  a  brick  block,  centrally  located,  were  secured 
and  occupied  by  the  Committee  in  August, 
1888.  They  were  at  306  North  Delaware  street, 
Indianapolis,  Ind.  In  January,  1899,  a  change 
of  location  was  again  made  to  meet  the  grow¬ 
ing  needs  of  the  work.  The  rooms  at  152  East 
Market  street  were  selected.  Here  the  Corre¬ 
sponding  Secretary,  the  Treasurer  and  the  Su¬ 
perintendent  of  Young  People’s  Work,  with 
their  assistants,  seven  all  together,  try  faith¬ 
fully  to  serve  the  work.  Here  are  kept  the  sets 
of  books  for  receipts  and  disbursements  of  the 
various  funds,  for  subscriptions  to  the  papers, 
for  mortgages  and  other  purposes.  Here  incom¬ 
ing  and  outgoing  missionaries,  also  friends  and 
co-workers  in  the  Christian  Woman’s  Board  of 
Missions,  come  from  far  and  near  for  Christian 
greeting,  counsel,  conference  and  communion, 

37 


receiving  cordial  welcome  and  bestowing  gra¬ 
cious  benediction. 

C.  W.  B.  M.  DAY. 

At  the  State  Convention  of  the  Christian 
Woman’s  Board  of  Missions  of  Illinois,  August, 

1889,  the  President,  Mrs.  Persis  L.  Christian, 
recommended  that  “  we  establish  a  day  in  this 
State  for  the  purpose  of  making  our  work 
known  throughout  the  churches,  and  also  for 
soliciting  money.”  This  was  adopted,  and  the 
last  Sunday  in  November  was  the  day  appoint¬ 
ed.  At  the  Louisville  Convention,  in  October 
following,  it  was  decided  to  have  a  National  C. 
W.  B.  M.  day,  and  the  first  Sunday  in  July 
was  chosen  for  this.  It  was  first  observed  in 

1890. 

EDUCATIONAL  DAY. 

The  object  of  Educational  Day,  as  stated,  is: 
“1.  To  emphasize  the  importance  of  saving 
our  educated  young  people  from  skepticism, 
and  of  training  them  for  Christian  service:  and, 
2d,  to  secure  offerings  to  maintain  the  work 
and  aid  in  raising  a  permanent  endowment  of 
$50,000  to  be  controlled  by  the  Christian  Wom¬ 
an’s  Board  of  Missions.”  It  was  inaugurated 
at  the  Nashville  Convention,  October  15,  1892. 
It  was  there  arranged  that  the  Auxiliaries  hold 
a  mid-week  service  on  the  regular  prayer-meet¬ 
ing  night  the  second  week  in  February,  1893, 
in  the  interest  of  our  State  colleges  and  the  pro¬ 
posed  Bible  Chair  at  Ann  Arbor,  Mich.;  that  a 
collection  be  taken  and  one-half  of  it  go  to  the 
Bible  Chair,  the  other  half  to  the  college  in  the 

38 


State  where  the  meeting  was  held.  In  States 

where  we  had  no  college,  the  whole  amount  to 

o-o  to  the  Bible  Chair.  A  goodly  number  of 
© 

Auxiliaries  observed  it,  and  brought  $1,664  to 
our  treasury.  But  the  date  seemed  not  quite 
opportune,  coming  as  it  did  just  before  the  reg¬ 
ular  collection  by  the  churches  for  foreign  mis¬ 
sions,  the  first  Sunday  in  March.  In  1894  it 
was  held  in  January,  in  the  interest  of  the  Bible 
Chair  only.  But  this  date  was  not  satisfac¬ 
tory.  In  1895  it  was  changed  to  the  first  week 
in  December,  at  which  time  it  was  observed 
that  year  and  in  1896  and  1897.  The  Indian¬ 
apolis  Convention  in  1897  decided  that  in  1898, 
and  thereafter,  our  two  special  days,  C.  W.  B. 
M.  and  Educational,  should  be  combined  and 
observed  together  in  December,  thus  present¬ 
ing  to  the  churches  all  our  interests  in  one  day. 

THE  C.  W.  B.  M.  MANUAL. 

What  to  do  and  how  to  do  it  has  been  a  puz¬ 
zling  matter  to  many  a  devout  Auxiliary  wo¬ 
man  who  wanted  to  do  just  the  right  thing  in 
the  right  way  before  God  in  this  mission  work. 
In  1893  Mrs.  Persis  L.  Christian  prepared  a 
Manual  that  clearly  answers  the  questions. 
She  tells  of  the  organization  of  the  National 
Board  and  of  the  Auxiliary.  She  explains  the 
duties  of  the  officers  of  the  Auxiliary,  how  to 
conduct  the  meetings,  prepare  programs,  raise 
funds,  etc.;  tells  how  to  manage  district  and 
county  work  ;  gives  a  generous  list  of  “  Practi¬ 
cal  Hints,”  and  crowns  the  whole  with  a  “Fin- 

39 


ale”  that  every  Christian  woman  should 
read  and  heed. 

THE  C.  W.  B.  M.  AMONG  OTHER  ORGAN¬ 
IZATIONS  OF  WOMEN. 

At  the  World’s  Congress  of  Representative 
Women,  held  in  the  Art  Palace,  Chicago,  May 
15  to  22,  1893,  the  work  of  the  Congress  was 
divided  into  eight  sections:  1,  Education;  2,  In¬ 
dustry;  3,  Literature  and  Art;  4,  Moral  and  So¬ 
cial  Reform;  5,  Philanthropy  and  Charity;  6, 
Civil  Law  and  Government;  7,  Religion;  8, 
Science  and  Philosophy.  The  Congress  Com¬ 
mittee,  having  requested  a  report  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  Woman’s  Board  of  Missions,  our  National 
President,  Mrs.  O.  A.  Burgess,  was  chosen  to 
represent  us  there,  and  on  Friday,  May  19,  she 
gave  a  concise  account  of  the  organization,  the 
methods  and  the  work  accomplished  by  this 
Board.  This  was  published  in  the  July  Tid¬ 
ings  of  that  year. 

On  Friday,  January  15,  1897,  there  was  held 
in  New  York  City  an  Inter-Denominational 
Conference  of  Women’s  Foreign  Mission 
Boards.  The  Christian  Woman’s  Board  of 
Missions  was  represented  in  this  Conference  by 
the  Corresponding  Secretary,  Miss  Lois  A. 
White.  An  account  of  her  trip  is  given  in 
the  March  Tidings  following.  In  1899  Mrs. 
Helen  E.  Moses  attended  the  Ecumenical 
Conference  on  Foreign  Missions  held  in  New 
Y'ork  City  and  reported  something  of  its 
work  in  the  Tidings.  Attendance  on  these 
Union  gatherings  brings  no  immediate  finan- 

40 


cial  returns,  but  they  foster  and  develop 
in  no  small  degree  the  spirit  of  union  among 
the  Lord’s  people.  Then,  with  Missionary 
Boards  as  with  people,  it  is  a  good  thing  for 
them  to  come  together  sometimes,  get  ac¬ 
quainted  with  one  another,  and  all  learn  by 
conference  the  best  known  methods  and  ways 
of  managing  the  work  that  each  has  learned  by 
its  own  experience. 

THE  JUNIOR  MANUAL. 

The  C.  W.  B.  M.  did  itself  proud  by  publish¬ 
ing  as  its  first  book  this  volume  prepared  by 
Jessie  Brown  Pounds  and  Mattie  Pounds  to  aid 
workers  with  and  for  the  boys  and  girls.  It  % 
was  issued  in  1897 ,  and  its  pages  are  brimming 
with  inspiring  helps  for  Junior  C.  E.  Superin¬ 
tendents.  The  edition  numbered  1,000. 

MEMBERSHIPS. 

Until  1890,  the  payment  of  $1  made  one  an 
Annual  Member  of  the  C.  W.  B.  M.  Since 
that  date  the  terms  are  $5. for  each  annual 
member. 

A  Life  Membership  is  $25,  paid  within  two 
years,  in  not  more  than  two  installments.  This 
was  so  from  the  first.  In  the  missionary  year 
1899-00  the  article  of  our  constitution  relating  to 
Annual  and  Life  Memberships  was  changed  to 
read  “any  person  may  become  a  member  of 
this  association  by  contributing  a  sum  of  not 
less  than  $5  a  year  to  its  funds,  and  by  the  pay¬ 
ment  of  $25  in  two  ye  irs  in  not  more  than  two 
installments,  or  by  taking  five  consecutive  an- 

41 


nual  memberships,  any  person  may  become  a 
Life  Member.” 


ORGANIZERS. 

At  the  close  of  the  State  Meeting  at  Eureka, 
Ill.,  September,  1874,  Miss  E.  J.  Dickinson 
called  together  the  Sisters  in  attendance,  and 
explained  to  them  the  work  to  which  Mrs. 
Pearre  was  calling  all  our  Sisterhood.  This 
was  six  weeks  before  the  C.  W.  B.  M.  was  or¬ 
ganized.  She  had  already  organized  a  Woman’s 
Missionary  Society  in  her  home  church  at 
Eureka,  and  insisted  that  those  present  do  the 
same  thing  in  their  home  churches.  Several 
Brethren  attended  this  meeting,  among  them 
the  late  Ira  J.  Chase,  then  pastor  of  the  church 
at  Peoria.  He  was  much  interested,  urged  and 
induced  the  meeting  to  form  a  State  organiza¬ 
tion  and  to  send  one  of  their  number  out  among 
the  churches  in  the  State  to  form  these  Socie¬ 
ties.  Later  other  States  sent  out  Organizers  as 
they  could  arrange  for  them.  In  1890,  Mrs. 
Persis  L.  Christian,  of  Arkansas,  was  appointed 
National  Organizer.  She  did  not  give  all  her 
time  to  the  work,  but  each  year  spent  some 
time  building  up  and  strengthening  the  work 
in  the  States  where  the  cause  is  weak,  and  help 
most  needed.  She  also  responded  to  calls  from 
stronger  States  to  aid  in  their  Convention  work, 
they  paying  her  expenses  and  salary.  For 
more  than  a  year  her  health  has  forbidden  field 
work. 

From  December  1,  1896,  to  October  1,  1897, 
Miss  Lura  V.  Thompson,  of  Illinois,  labored 

42 


for  the  National  Board  as  General  Organizer, 
devoting  her  entire  time  to  it.  She  spent  some 
time  in  Minnesota,  Wisconsin  and  Michigan, 
then  in  the  Atlantic  States  from  Pennsylvania 
to  Florida,  then  in  Montana  and  the  States 
bordering  on  the  Pacific.  Her  work  was  simi¬ 
lar,  to  Mrs.  Christian’s. 

During  the  missionary  year  of  1899  and  1900 
much  organizing  work  was  done  in  States  where 
our  woman’s  work  was  not  strong  enough  to 
sustain  an  Organizer  during  the  entire  year. 
Miss  Lura  V.  Thompson,  Mrs.  Louise  Kelly, 
Mrs.  Mary  Graham,  Miss  L.  Etta  Rannells,  Miss 
Mary  Orvis,  Miss  Edith  Crawford,  Miss  Mat- 
tie  Burgess  and  Miss  Mary  Kilpatrick  did  or¬ 
ganizing  work.  The  National  Board  supple¬ 
mented  the  efforts  made  by  the  various  States 
to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  work,  the  New 
England  States,  North  Carolina,  West  Va.> 
Minnesota,  Arkansas,  Oklahoma,  Nebraska, 
California  (North  and  South)  and  Oregbn  be¬ 
ing  thus  aided. 

THE  FUNDS. 

The  General  Fund  is  for  the  current  expenses 
of  the  work.  It  is  made  up  of  Auxiliary  Con¬ 
tributions  and  Annual  Memberships,  together 
with  all  Life  Memberships,  bequests  and  other 
gifts  not  otherwise  ordered  by  the  donors. 

The  Endowment  Fund  is  permanent.  The 
interest  only  can  be  used  and  for  India  mis¬ 
sions.  At  first  all  life  memberships,  and  be¬ 
quests  not  otherwise  ordered  by  the  donors, 
were  used  to  build  up  the  Endowment  Fund. 

43 


This  was  changed  in  1891,  and  since  that  time 
these  gifts  go  into  the  General  Fund  unless 
otherwise  ordered  by  the  donors.  At  the  close 
of  1881  the  Endowment  Fund  amounted  to 
$3,425.  It  now  amounts  to  $35,281.19,  and  is 
kept  loaned  on  first  mortgage  real  estate  secu¬ 
rity.  It  was  at  first  kept  in  charge  of  a  trustee 
under  bond  for  twice  its  amount ;  but  in  Feb¬ 
ruary,  1880,  the  Christian  Woman’s  Board  of 
Missions  took  out  articles  of  incorporation,  thus 
acquiring  recognition  in  law,  and  the  Fund  was 
then  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Treasurer. 

The  Memorial  Fund  is  composed  of  gifts  in 
memory  of  deceased  friends.  It  is  permanent, 
kept  loaned  on  good  security,  and  the  interest 
used  in  the  work  in  the  United  States.  It 
amounts  now  to  $2,391.89. 

There  are  two  funds  devoted  to  Bible  work, 
the  English  Bible  Chair  Endowment  Fund  and 
the  Endowment  Fund  of  the  University  of 
Virginia  Bible  Lectureship.  The  beginning  of 
the  first  Fund  was  made  by  the  offerings  on 
Educational  Day.  The  second  Fund  was 
opened  by  the  gift  of  $10,000  from  the  family 
of  Col.  J.  B.  Cary,  of  Richmond,  Va.  These 
funds  are  permanent,  and  kept  loaned,  well 
secured. 

The  Organizers’  Fund  is  for  general  organiz¬ 
ing  work,  is  made  up  in  part  of  voluntary  per¬ 
sonal  contributions,  and  part  donations  by  the 
stronger  States  to  aid  in  extending  the  work  in 
the  weaker  States.  Efforts  are  being  made  in 
recent  years  to  induce  all  Auxiliary  members  to 


u 


contribute  5  cents  a  month  for  “State  Devel¬ 
opment  ”  in  addition  to  their  “  not  less  than  10 
cents  a  month  ”  for  the  general  work.  Also  to 
induce  each  State  to  send  10  per  cent,  of  such 
contributions  to  the  Organizers’  Fund  at  head¬ 
quarters.  This  idea  is  growing  steadily. 

The  Leaflet  Fund  is  composed  of  voluntary 
contributions  and  payments  for  leaflets  and  is 
used  in  preparing,  purchasing  and  distributing 

these  aids  to  the  work. 

The  Bilaspur,  Mahoba  and  Deoghur,  India, 
and  Bayamon,  Porto  Rico,  Orphanage  Funds 
are  made  a  part  of  the  receipts  of  the  Young- 
People’s  Department.  Into  these  funds  go  all 
offerings  made  for  the  support  of  the  children 
in  the  various  orphanages.  In  1899  a  Special 
Object  Fund  for  the  Young  People’s  Depart¬ 
ment  was  opened.  Into  it  go  the  special  gifts 
from  the  young  people’s  organizations. 

The  Annuity  Fund  contains  sums  given  to 
our  Board  on  condition  that  a  fixed  rate  of  in¬ 
terest  be  paid  the  donors  during  their  life-time. 
There  is  in  this  fund  $16,300. 

CONCLUSION. 

The  foregoing  sets  forth  some  of  the  work  of 
our  Board,  but  the  best  can  not  be  told.  No 
words  can  reveal  the  largeness  of  heart,  rich¬ 
ness  of  faith,  sweetness  of  hope,  blessedness  of 
life  that  have  come,  not  only  to  those  receiving 
tlie  ministries  of  these  women,  but  much  more 
to  the  women  themselves.  All  have  been  lifted 
into  a  higher,  holier  life,  nearer  to  God,  in  this 


45 


service.  The  Savior’s  words  have  been  abun¬ 
dantly  verified:  “It  is  more  blessed  to  give 
than  to  receive.” 

As  many  members  of  the  Christian  Woman’s 
Board  of  Missions  have  contributed  to  this 
sketch,  it  may  now  go  forth  as  a  brief  autobi¬ 
ography  of  the  Christian  Woman’s  Board  of 
Missions. 


f 


46 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 

Antecedents . .  1 

Origin .  1 

Organization .  3 

Choosing  Our  First  Field . . .  4 

From  1874  to  1881 .  5 

Our  Missions  : 

Jamaica  .  8 

India : 

Bilaspur .  13 

Bina .  15 

Deoghur .  13 

Mahoba .  18 

United  States .  19 

Ann  Arbor .  22 

University  Bible  Work .  24 

Hazel  Green  and  Morehead .  25 

Mexico .  29 

Porto  Rico .  30 

Officers  Since  1874  .  26 

The  Executive  Committee .  31 

Mission  Bands  and  Jr.  C.  E.  Societies .  32 

Literature .  35 

General  Agent .  36 

Hour  of  Prayer .  36 

The  Office .  37 

C.  W.  B.  M.  Day .  38 

Educational  Day .  38 

The  C.  W.  B.  M.  Manual .  39 

C.  W.  B.  M.  Among  Other  Organizations .  40 

The  Junior  Manual .  41 

Memberships . 41 

Organizers . . .  42 

The  Funds .  43 

Conclusion . . . . .  45 

Tabular  Lists: 

Annual  Conventions  and  Receipts . 2d  p.  cover. 

Missionaries  to  Jamaica  since  1874 . page  48. 

Missionaries  to  India  since  1882  .  3d  p.  cover. 

47 


MISSIONARIES  TO  JAMAICA  SINCE  1874 


W.  H.  Williams . 1876  to  1879 

James  Tilley . 1878  “  1884 

Miss  Jennie  Laughlin . 1879  “  1880 

I.  G.  Tomlinson . 1880  “  1882 

Miss  Marion  Perkins . 1880  “  1882 

W.  K.  Azbill . 1882  “  1886 

Miss  Sallie  McEwan . 1883  “  1885 

W.  S.  Houchins . 1883  “  1885 

John  Thompson . 1884  “  date 

C.  E.  Randall . 1885  “date 

Mrs.  C.  E.  Randall . 1885  “date 

R.  M.  Chamberlain . 1885  “  1887 

R.  E.  Swartz . 1886  “  1888 

J.  W.  Jenkins . 1886  “  1889 

J.  H.  Yersey . 1889  “  1894 

Wm,  W.  Rumsey . 1889  “  1892 

Claris  Yuell . 1889  “  1890 

W.  H.  Hayden  (July  to  Nov.) . . . 1888  “  1888 

J.  C.  Smith . 1891  “  1893 

M.  A.  Collins . 1891  “  1893 

H.  L.  Gow . 1891  “  1893 

A.  C.  McHardy . 1892  “date 

Mrs.  A.  C.  McHardy . 1892  “  date 

Wm.  W.  Rumsey.  . 1894  “  1896 

Miss  M.  Isabel  McHardy . 1896  “date 

Neil  MacLeod . 1896  “  date 

P.  M.  Robinson . 1888  “date 

T.  A.  Meredith . 1897  “date 

Mrs.  T.  A.  Meredith . 1897  “  date 

G.  D.  Purdy . 1897  “date 

Mrs.  G.  D.  Purdy . 1897  “  date 

Robert  Bailey . 1899  “date 

Louis  Thomas . 1900  “  date 

Arnold  Shirley . *. . 1900  “  date 


48 


MISSIONARIES  TO  INDIA  SINCE  1882. 


...1882  to  1891 

...1882  “date 

T,ani*o  V  ICinfiAV  . . 

...1882  “  1887 

...1882  “date 

Dr.  Olivia  A.  Baldwin . 

Dr.  Arabella  Merrill. ........... 

TTo’f-o  Ti  Tj»wt*atip.a . . . 

..  ..1888  “  1894 
,...1888  “  1894 
...1890  “  1891 

’Rot+Vio  TT  T lolir.  . .  . . 

..  .1893  “date 

Ben.  N.  Mitchell . . . 

Mrs.  Laura  Y.  Mitchell. ... - 

Mattie  W.  Burgess . 

. .  .1893  “  date 
...1893  “date 
. .  .1893  “  date 
...1893  “date 

Jane  Wakefield  Adam . 

...1894  “date 
....1894  “date 

Adelaide  Gail  Frost. . . 

TT.1  cn  TT  frnrH  An  .  ....  .  „  . 

. . .  .1894  “  date 
....1895  “date 

..  ..1895  “  date 

M.  Alice  Spradlin . . . 

T)r*  "R  r,  Tj  Miller  0 1 . . 

....1895  “  1899 
. .  ..1895  “date 

Dr.  Lillian  B.  Miller . . . . . 

Mrs.  Sarah  Egan . 

Ella  M.  Maddock. . . . 

. . .  .1895  “  date 
....1897  “date 
....1897  “date 
. . .  .1897  “  date 

Olivia  A.  Baldwin . 

Annie  A.  Lackey . 

O  (t  ’Rlsam  «  ,  f . . . 

. . .  .1898  “  date 
. . .  .1898  “  date 
. . .  .1898  “  date 

Mrs.  C.  G.  Elsam . 

Mary  M.  Longdon . 

Susie  L.  Kawson . . 

Gertrude  A.  Ottley . . . . . 

Freddie  Ehrenberg . 

....1898  “date 
....1899  “date 
. . .  .1899  “  date 
. . .  .1899  “  date 
....1900  “date 
. . .  .1900  “  date 

IVfiQQ  . . . . . . 

. . .  .1900  “  date 

May  Browne . . . 

. . .  .1900  “  date 

MISSIONARIES  TO  MEXICO  SINCE  1895. 


M.  L.  Hoblit . 

Mrs.  M.  L.  Hoblit 

L.  M.  Omer . 

Mrs.  L.  M.  Omer  . 
Clara  L.  Case. . . . 
Bertha  C.  Mason . 


1895  to  1899 
.1898  “  1899 
1899  “  date 

1899  “date 
.1900  “date 

1900  “  date 


PORTO  RICO. 


Mrs.  A.  M.  Fullen 


1900  to  date 


The  Hollenbeck  Press 
Indianapolis 


